Project Blind Confidence (1 Viewer)

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Ok reality check. I'm I crazy for thinking I can pull this off? I've done some measurements (probably inaccurate but close) of the door. For a patch pannel on the lower door, I'd need a slightly rolled contour on the top with a straight bend on the bottom. Could this be done with a homemade press with some c clamps?

I'm thinking of a quarter inch metal die and pressing it with some hardwood. I'm guessing getting/keeping it in the right position will be the biggest issue after the initial forming.

I had some scrap quarter inch plate so I'm playing around with it. I welded some longer ends on the straightest plate . After some general forming I used a dremel as a router and got a nice flat edge for the bottom of the door.

Now I need to figure out how to take that sharp edge off consistently around the perimeter to make the rolled edge.

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I realized I took too much off the edges with the template. I thought about keeping enough edge to round off to the template, but then I spaced out and moved the template up to the edge to get the corners to the right profile. I've added a couple of weld beads around the corners and will have to reshape. I'm hoping i can get keep it flat enough when i grind it back down. I hit a new life milestone. I've worn out my first angle grinder. it's been 10+ years and it's seen some tough action. It still runs smooth, but the ring gear has given up the ghost. New ring gear and pinion on order to see if I can get it back up and running.

I had a good win yesterday. I was able to get my son to Tball and back in the 40 without issue. It wasn't a huge trip, but the last time/only other time I tried to transport a kid I got stranded in a parking lot with locked up brakes. The last valve tune up has made it much more responsive in the higher rpm/speeds. It pulls much better in 3rd gear. I did realize I forgot to take off the tape and paper from my passenger door mockup/templating when I got to the fields. :doh:
 
After the last few successful outings, I decided to try to drive to a work event. It was small highway driving, about 30 miles each way. My speed sweet spot seemed to be about 57.

I woke up early and completed my bezel flip to look presentable.

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I made it home without issue. It did start to trend hot about halfway after stopping for gas, but it never went over the hot line on the gauge. I pulled into the driveway (on an incline) and it started bubbling through the overflow. I'm guessing I released another air pocket. Damn these things are hard to burp. I checked after it cooled down and all the overflow had been sucked back into the radiator. I take that as a good sign that the air is out. I topped off the radiator and squeezed the air out of the top hose.

I took it around the block a few times to check if it was cooling better. It feels/sounds like the timing is off a little again. How often are other people having to adjust valves?
 
Sad that this was the last day of tball. I gave my son the option of cars and he picked the 40.

I did a little rust preventative on the underside last night. I still can't believe they put the under coating on bare metal. Its held up really well over the years, but I was expecting some kind of primer. I've decided that aesthetics under the car don't mean that much to me. I had some black paint, but I left it open and it dried up. The next option was red. I didn't have anything but some surface rust forming, but I needed to be covered before we got to something worse.

I did find a nice crack in the metal on the floor. It goes through the bottom bolt hole in that pic. I'll add it to the list for some attention at some point.

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I'm still having some strange temperature response with it trending hotter than I expect. I reinstalled my shroud as I heard it helps. Based on the pain of getting it off, I cut it in half to make it easier to manage for maintenance. It took pulling both of the supports from the sides of the radiator and lifting the radiator slightly to clear the top hose, but it was way easier than removing the fan.

I'm still not sure how people install stuff without scratching it...

I had it on my list to do some rust prevention as well. After the time in the engine bay it seemed like a good place to start. I'm guessing there was a hot a coolant leak that took the paint off the firewall, and maybe that's why I dont have a heater. Clr and oiled the panels. I wasn't originally a big fan of the red, but it's growing on me.

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I made a quick job out of a slave cylinder install yesterday. I've lost about half the reservoir in the few trips I've made. I couldn't figure out why my pedal would hit the firewall. Pedal feels stiffer now and doesn't go to the floor. Looks like it's been leaky for a while.

I also bought a hammer and dolly set to start working on panels.

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I had some time to test drive yesterday. Shifts started like butter but got a little more noisy during the drive. Going into 3rd has a metal sound when it goes in like the gears aren't matching up. It's not a grinding just a metal to metal clank. Double clutching gets rid of it. I'm guessing it has something to do with the synchronizer getting warm or too wet. I noticed my transmission is overfilled so I plan to drain a bit and see if that helps.

I finished the cigarette lighter clean up. Things are getting real when you're worried you may be out in the 40 long enough to need a phone charge. Someone at some time cut the wire or just pulled off the connector. The wire was too short to reach so I'm guessing it was cut and stripped at some point. It's an always hot circuit and had been sitting exposed under the dash since I've had it. I should go through an make sure everything is at least taped at some point. I put on a quick weather proof butt splice and a bullet connecter, and it still didn't work. I disassembled and cleaned the contactors, and it still didn't work. Power was good, ground was good...maybe a little too good. There were two loose female spade connections in the same area, a white and black and a blue and black. I chose poorly. Swapped to the white and black and bam there's a little puff of smoke and a hot cigarette lighter.

Question: I don't have choke cable. Do the valves stay slightly open if the cable is detached? I feel like I'm running a bit rich.
 
The wife called the 40 "swiss cheese" last week. I've still not fully recovered.

I channeled her lack of foresight into motivation for more frame painting. It's still not very fun.

I've got a monster plate across the rear with a hitch. I'm not sure when 3 inch balls were used, but I have one welded in. It also has some really big C channels to support the bumper. Were these standard or added to better reinforce the bumper for towing?

All in all, it was cleaner than I thought it would be. I took off a little rust scale, but no rust to worry about.

I also did a little clr and oil of the hood.

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Work has been more hectic the last few weeks with places opening back up so time with the 40 has been limited. I got some time to do some troubleshooting on the rattle I was getting on the back doors.

Findings:
1. The driver side lower latch was turned around backwards because the sloped side was completely gone. It made it impossible to open without a screwdriver prying up on the plunger
2. Both the screws on the bottom door plunger bracket were broken off so it was able to move a lot horizontally. Extraction necessary
3. At some point the screws were replaced with bolts on the lower latch. (super long bolts that take forever to thread and are hard to reach)
4. Screw extractors are worthless

The screws came "pre-disassembled" so I wasn't aware the were broken off. I may have seen it earlier on, but there were bigger issues to deal with at that point. I tried penetrating oil and heat (you can see the burned tape I was using to keep the weather stripping out of the way). I was ready to weld something to it, but I couldn't get a good angle on the tiny screws. The drill came out and did "ok", but it definitely wasn't a perfect job. I still had enough metal and treads to get the same size screw back in. I found some hex head screws at Ace and they worked great.

I didn't snap a pic of the latch part, but it was beat up pretty bad. I hadn't noticed it was backwards until I bought a new one for the top side. I thought it was hard to open because the plunger was messed up.

The major rattle is fixed. The top latch is popping out on bigger bumps like the curb on my driveway. It may be that the JB weld lip I put on it isn't straight enough to retain the plunger.

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Happy Fathers day to me! I got to take the 40 camping for a overnighter. It was hot, but it was a lot of fun. I made sure to pick a campsite that was through some rough terrain so I could try out 4WD. Overall the 40 did great. I did notice the steering was a little looser on the way back than the way there.

I took it about 40 miles each way and it was about 95 degrees outside. The temperature gauge was hanging out at the top of the normal range but wasn't going over. Since it's running cool around town and at idle, I've read it's a capacity issue vs a fan/cooling issue. I'm guessing that means either my radiator needs coring, somethings like the thermostat is blocked, or my water pump isn't pumping enough. The pump "looks" fairly new so I'm thinking either somethings gummed up the thermostat or my radiator needs cleaning. I've found my next things to work on anyways.

Any tips on troubleshooting to narrow down cooling issues before I start tearing into things?

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Happy 4th everybody. I did some troubleshooting on the 40 yesterday to see why it was running hot. Some searching pointed to being low on volume if it wasn't cooling at highway speed.

I pulled the radiator and flowed some water through it. It seemed to be coming through at a reasonable rate.

Then I moved to the thermostat. It had a little calcium buildup, but nothing too bad. It had gunk in the lower hose outlet on the housing so I pulled off the hoses.

When I pulled off the water pump hoses I found this. The outlet on the top of the water pump was completely clogged. It was packed tight nearly the full length of the port and had definitely been there a while.

I'm guessing that was ~1/2 the flow through the bypass which would account for the lack of cooling at speed.

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I didn't let my silicone cure the first try on my thermostat. 24 hrs is a long time, and I've got things to do! Well, 6hrs gave poor results and a growing puddle on the ground. Resealed the thermostat and gave it the recommended 24 hrs.

Everything sealed up and I commenced the task of burping. After 3 cycles, I now have it to where the temperature is surging a bit on the gauge but there's still air in there. I have it parked on my inclined driveway and bouncing on the front bumper yields best bubble results. It's slow going.

After my offroad adventure, my steering was much looser. I had some time to look at it during heat cycles so I checked out where the slop was coming from. Wiggling the steering wheel and looking at the steering arm, all the slop is in the steering box. I looked for the adjustment screw and found...something. it looks like a pipe flair for a fitting with a rubber hose pushed in it. I didn't mess with it, but I'm guessing its threaded on the bottom since the nut is still on there. Its definitely hollow.

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Aha, I'm looking at the wrong side. I watched a video on my phone and the guy had the steering box turned on it side in the vise. I couldn't see over to the inside of the thing to notice the screw so I thought that must have been it. Thanks!
You are correct. Say as the diffs, transmission and transfer case until that added some hose before the breather.
 
I would definitely look into having your radiator rodded out. I'm a big believer in that. Find the oldest radiator shop in town. A good shop can even re-core your current radiator if necessary.
 
I would definitely look into having your radiator rodded out. I'm a big believer in that. Find the oldest radiator shop in town. A good shop can even re-core your current radiator if necessary.
I was headed down that path before I found the plugged port. It will be next thing I try if there are still issues.
 
I forget - you already checked the engine timing to make sure it’s appropriate?
 

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